Sunday, April 16, 2006

Undercover Officer Speaks

Rather than let this languish in the comments section, we decided to give it its own thread. It is from John Northern and an undercover officer who successfully infiltrated the black panthers during its violent heyday. For obvious reasons, he maintains his anonymity to this day.

Perhaps the most exasperating aspect of this media-generated controversy is the fact that the convicted Englewood arsonist son of the late Fred Hampton and most of the others who seek to memorialize a leader of cop killers were not even alive at a time when Panther violence was at its peak. Indeed, most active members of the CPD had yet to be born. The facts are available for research. Panther sympathizers and "historical revisionists" can not alter these facts.

Tyrone emphasizes that in striking out against "the establishment" or "the man", the Panthers target was BLUE--police officers, regardless of race. Nationwide, both white and black police officers were murdered in cold blood by the Panthers and black militant splinter groups.

Second Ward Ald. Madeline Haithcock is nothing more than a clueless tool for the widely-despised instigator of this brouhaha, Bobby Rush, the former "Minister of Defense" for the Illinois Chapter of the BPP and currently a congressman. Haithcock's preposterous proposal is both divisive and obscene. It denigrates the efforts of heroic civil rights leaders like Dr. King who advocated a strategy of non-violence in instituting long overdue sociopolitical reforms. It only reopens old wounds.

In the late 1960's, Tyrone was selected from his class at the CPD training academy to infiltrate the Panthers. Shortly thereafter, he "joined" the BPP and met Fred Hampton and others at their headquarters, 2350 W. Madison St.

According to Tyrone, in our conversations as recently as this afternoon, the Panthers were a group of extremely dangerous and "rotten gangbangers". They hated the police, brainwashing and inciting their members to "kill cops, break into cops' homes and autos" to steal "pig" weapons. They were "thugs, dopies, stick-up men and extortionists", constantly badgering struggling merchants along Madison Street. Their nominal "free breakfasts program for kids" was nothing more than a propaganda smoke screen for their criminal activities including the murders and attempted murders of police officers.

Hampton, Rush and the Panther braintrust would "play dress-up" with their trademark black berets and leather jackets, a primary benefit being widespread access to physically attractive, yet gullible young women who were seduced by the notoriety of the Panthers. They would also appear at Panther rallies, invariably being introduced by white activists. Then, they would incessantly incite those in attendance, including dull-witted fanatics to "OFF THE PIGS!" and "liberate the black community from the occupying pig armies." As documented history bears out, their incendiary words went far beyond mere "Maoist rhetoric".

Tyrone also bought guns from "mules" who brought the weapons up from the South, the sole reason: "to kill pigs!"

Both Tyrone and I agree that the eerie silence of both the Mayor and police brass on this issue is reprehensible and hypocritical.

After reading this, it's kind of depressing that no politician and no police brass has the guts to stand up and say this is wrong - aside from Alderman Tom Allen.

48 Comments:

Makes you want to stop and want to smell the roses. It is a very assine world we live in now. I hear war stories in the bar I go in and IS IT ME OR HAS EVERYONE LOST THEIR BALLS due to political "RIGHTNESS"?

4/16/2006 05:46:26 AM Get over yourself. We may wallow in the mire, but this is just a job. No matter what we do, life will be the same tomorrow. All that "I'm a hero" shit smacks of the fireman dying their hair blond after 9/11. Go to work, do what you have to do, back one another up, and have as much fun as you can. Some people stick their toe farther into the cesspool than others, but it doesn't make them more of a hero. I've been in 3 shootings; 1 dead, 1 wounded, and 1 winged. I would shoot a motherfucker right now if I needed too, but it doesn't make me hero. We all do this job for our own reasons. In 22 years I've never met any copper who's driving around trying to live up to some Joe Friday standard. Most people I know say I'm an excellent cop. Why? Who knows. I make good arrests, but I don't do anything exceptional. I cheat the taxman, I fuck around on my wife, and I spend too much time in the tavern. If I was killed tomorrow, a bunch of exempts I don't know (and wouldn't like) will be standing around pushing one another out of the way to stand closer to my casket. My friends would be standing in the back row counting the minutes until they could go to the bar and toast my memory. It's just a job and we all chose it. We don't need to pump our own nads. All the heroes I know are dead. Get over yourself.

I know why people think you're a good copper. No offense, but it's because you're a trigger puller. There is the perception on this job that if someone is in a shooing they are a great cop. Most working policeman have instances during their career where they should shoot. Most of those coppers don't shoot. The ones who do are put on a pedestal (again, no offense). That is why other coppers have a good opinion of you. You have the shooter "chromosome" (ha ha). By the way, I agree with you about the "I'm a hero" nonsense. Leave that shit to the fireman.

Chicago Tribune ArchivesSEP 16, 1969---(picture of Bobby Rush) BPP records show misuse of funds. Book keeping ledgers from April 7 -June 7 show Rush nicknamed "Che" used money for the breakfast program to buy himself glasses, tires, car note, and Fred Hampton Sr used funds to buy himself a new suit and books for private use...other BPP members using program funds for personal use.

Anonymous said... Chicago Tribune ArchivesSEP 16, 1969---(picture of Bobby Rush) BPP records show misuse of funds. Book keeping ledgers from April 7 -June 7 show Rush nicknamed "Che" used money for the breakfast program to buy himself glasses, tires, car note, and Fred Hampton Sr used funds to buy himself a new suit and books for private use...other BPP members using program funds for personal use.

4/16/2006 10:23:55 AM

THESE GUYS SPENDING HABITS SOUNDS ALOT LIKE SOME OF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

Back in the 60's I can remember vividly the Chicago Police Department C5 unit, which was located on the 3rd floor of an alcholic rehab facility on south Western ave. actually they were Chicago's very own "Red Squad"they were so paranoid that they hung up vintage world war 2 signs in their corridors "Loose lips, sinks ships" TYRONE probably remember this place well, it was one of their operational centers, I knew several of these guys, each of them had this unique gift of breaking the law to preserve the law. I think this was part of a litmus, to be in this unit. They even had a very small squad that was suppose to investigate police corruption within the department which actually was a cover to legitimize their exsistence, if memory serves me right one of the first director was a guy name Robert Hannsen (sp) and one of the last director's was Mitchell Ware. There job was to infiltrated any organization deemed UNAMERICAN or groups participating in civil unrest. Their street operatives were called "Street Joes" these guys were used for intelligence gathering and surveillances. "Street Commando's" were used to cause disruptions at rallies and meeting, giving cause for legitimate police intervention. They were provided tech support from several federal agencies. Damn the 60's were exciting....personally after all of these years I still haven't been able to make up my mind, if thes guys were heros are goons

Off topic but has anyone else noticed a severe overplaying of Rev Meeks and the House of Hope this holiday weekend? You would have thought that he has the only church in town.....what a shitbag and he call himself a reverend...

C-5 Hero's? Robert Hanssen narrowly escpaed execution as the worst traitor to our country since the Rosenbergs. Wasn't it Mitchell Wares girlfriend who was found murdered near Jackson Park? Arguably, the worst policeman in the city.

If you want to relate this to Rush that's fine. He's a shithead and derserves whatever he gets. But remember this. Daley has put out a lot of shit the last couple of months. Selling Midway airport, taxing your water usage, and the trucking scandal. Daley has benefitted more from this dumbass Fred Hampton shit than anyone else.

and who in chicago has benifited most from the real estate windfall..... not just taxes but turning over city holdings and re zoning large parcels and in at least one case condeming land for a new 009 and then selling the land to developers ?

Friend.....I'm wasn't trying to cast any aspersions on "TYRONE"I just made mention of one particular type of endorsed police activity, that was present in the 60's. Whether it was cointel or chicago's own c5 unit, numerous law enforcement units had targeted the same group of people {bpp) and initiated overt and covert surveillance on them. Now if your friend "Tyrone" was with some other group so be it.I particularly made mention of Hanssen and Ware, not so much because they had any known involvement with the BPP investigations or operations against them. But because they were the type of people who try to give the apperance that they and they alone were the saviors of the american way of life. They were given the blessing of the city and police brass to do their thing, and for some reason, they were helded in high esteem. History show us that maybe the wrong people was appointed to hold these offices with such sensitive information at their finger tips. Now the couple guys that I knew, I couldn't tell you if their real names were LEROY,JUNEBUG or LIL MANtheir claim to fame was supposivelyinfiltrating the bpp and supposively causing some internal problems among the bpp and opposing organizations.

I think you're confusing two different units, the Red Squad which was around from the early 60's and was used to monitor subversive activities and C5 which was formed in the 70's to combat police corruption. Believe me they were completely different.

okay let me try to cover this once and for all. During the crazy 60'sThe Red Squad and C-5 put together what they believed to be the unit of all unit. They were supposively to be the tip of the sword! ! !the joint venture was to use the surveillance smarts of the red squad and the dirty tricks of C-5 goons, in an effort to destroy theBPP. I'm not saying whether these guys were successful or not, but it was something that was tried nothing more, nothing less

Been there, done that, STILL doing it!OK, for what it's worth I'll try and shed some light on this C5/Red Squad topic for those that weren't ON THE JOB at the time and "truly" want the 'correct' info.First, neither should be considered the same.C-5 was a group of coppers that allegedly worked undercover to capture the alleged 'crooked cop.' Like any other unit, there were some good investigators and some dogs. For the most part, considering some of their publicized screw-ups, the latter of the two seemed more prominent. At its inception you were promised to be promoted from within, so you knew what kind of people signed up.ONE story that came to mind was a 'set-up' using an [non-police] informant who was supposed to deliver marked money to a copper who was alleged to be on the take. After the 'delivery' a high-sign was given and C5 moved in for the arrest. Well, what's the first thing you do after securing the arrestee? Anyone? Anyone?....Bueller?Yes, you detectives out there, you recover the evidence! Well, a Sgt. who shall go nameless [retired] here, searched and searched but NO marked $$ !To avoid embarassment he stripped searched the copper right on the street but still notta.Any guesses? Yup, the informant ‘ripped' them and kept the cash! The coppers sued.Mitchell Ware, the Director of C5, who couldn't [personally] find water if he was in the Marine Unit, jammed up a few coppers who were doing surveillance work by questioning their [alleged] illegal wire tap techniques. The unit was finally disbanded with little or no real success to speak of. Those members that went back to their units were treated like spies or crap, similar to the firefighters that failed to walk out during the strike. The bottom line was, they were the police vs. the police.

Now the Red Squad differed in that it was the police vs. the subversives. Ok., Ok., to be fair, the ‘alleged' subversives. During the 60's and 70's there were a bunch of anti- government, police, U.S., groups out there promoting violence, with the Black Panther Party being only ONE. There were bombings in the U.S. and Chicago, including one left in a garbage can outside of CPD headquarters that was found by an alert copper. The CPD put ‘infiltrators' inside these organizations to gather intelligence. Most were pulled from the academy {O'Brien St.} and joined the organization to alert the Red Squad, thus the CPD of the future violence they planned on inflicting. A lot were tied to the Viet Nam War effort. The Lieutenant that headed that unit was a SUPER guy with gonads the size of grapefruits! Lord only knows how much violence and destruction he stopped in Chicago. In return, he was sued and was giving depositions to the "Peoples Law Office" for 20 years thereafter. We now have a consent decree relative to intelligence gathering because of the Red Squad. SORRY for the loooong rant, just wanted to clear things up and make sure the two were never considered the same.

To the person who claimed to talk to Tyrone. Do you know who you were actually talking to, if was Northside using his 'OLD KENTUCKY DIALECT". He used it many times before. Wait till you see him with his afro wig, black face etc. during some type of undercover operation. He puts on a regular minstrel show. The only ones he don't fool is the guys who worked with him and the "brothers".

to 8:13:19,I'll tell you a matter of fact. Red Squad and C-5 were run by and staffed with clowns. These units of assholes did not exist at the same time. None of them were heros, red squad was a bunch of young kids that couldn't find their ass with both hands. C-5 was dope dealers, thieves, assholes and shitheads.